Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses

Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses

A “marvelously macabre” (<i>Kirkus Reviews</i>) history of the bizarre afterlives of corpses of the celebrated and notorious dead.<BR><BR>For some of the most influential figures in history, death marked the start of a new adventure. The famous deceased have been stolen, burned, sold, pickled, frozen, stuffed, impersonated, and even filed away in a lawyer’s office. Their fingers, teeth, toes, arms, legs, skulls, hearts, lungs, and nether regions have embarked on voyages that crisscross the globe and stretch the imagination.<BR> <BR>Counterfeiters tried to steal Lincoln’s corpse. Einstein’s brain went on a cross-country road trip. And after Lord Horatio Nelson perished at Trafalgar, his sailors submerged him in brandy—which they drank.<BR> <BR>From Alexander the Great to Elvis Presley, and from Beethoven to Dorothy Parker, <i>Rest in Pieces </i>connects the lives of the famous dead to the hilarious and horrifying adventures of their corpses, and traces the evolution of cultural attitudes toward death.